Following on from last week’s round up in the company of Leeds trio Sky Larkin – click HERE to read their thoughts on tracks from U2, The King Blues, Tommy Sparks and more – ClashMusic is again joined by a guest reviewer for this week’s round up – The Invisible’s Dave Okumu.
The Invisible’s self-titled album is out now on Accidental, and you can find it reviewed on these pages right HERE. The London-based trio are much revered by discerning critics and ear-to-the-ground bands alike, and have been out on tour with both Foals and Doves of late. Find all the information you could ever want on their live activity by clicking to MySpace.
Over to Dave for his perspective on this week’s singles…
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Single of the Week
M83 – ‘Graveyard Girl’
I like this. What it is, I think, is that it sounds very ‘80s, but compared to some of the other stuff out this week it’s been through more of a profound filtering process, and I believe it more. I can hear an honesty to it – there’s a real difference between wanting to sound a certain way and going through a process where you properly engage with a type of music and genuinely love it. You can feel the sincerity, and melodically with the top line and vocal stuff, it’s mature and sophisticated – not in a boring way, but it develops really well. It’s an example of good songwriting. Another thing I like about it is that it has a real warmth – not much music feels that way to me, but it’s here in the sound, and how the song’s been mixed. I really appreciate it.
Also out today…
Sky Larkin – ‘Antibodies’
Okay, so there’s something in this music that I quite like, and that’s quite familiar – it reminds me of the poppier side of Sonic Youth, and I really love Sonic Youth. When the vocals come in it doesn’t quite do it for me, though. It’s just that thing that seems to affect a lot of pop music – it’s sort of an approximation of something better. So, it’s familiar, but I don’t come away with a sense of who these people really are, which is what I look for in music.
Passion Pit – ‘The Reeling’
I’ve really been wanting to hear Passion Pit, because someone recommended them to me recently, and there are really nice elements in this. Often when I listen to new music it either depresses me or really ignites my imagination, and sometimes my response is that I’ll be thinking about how I would have approached that piece of music. There are things I would change about this piece of music, in terms of the feel and some of the production, but I quite like it. It’s refreshing to hear something that’s pop, with plenty of synth in there, but that’s not this generic electro-pop sound that’s getting rinsed recently, by people acting like synthesizers have just been invented. In that sense I’ll give them… something. A hug.
Lily Allen – ‘Not Fair’
(With distress in his voice) Lily Allen?! (After 30 seconds) Yeah, you can turn this one off. Sorry Lily… I just don’t believe it, basically, and it doesn’t make me feel good. I don’t want to listen to it anymore. Sorry.
Howling Bells – ‘Digital Hearts’
To me this is pretty inoffensive – it’s okay, and I can listen to it, but I’d never buy it. What’s interesting is that its drum sound is like so much other music coming out right now, and it’s so boring, basically. It’s just that thing of big snares and reverb on the drums – it’s a kind of ‘80s vibe, and while I love the ‘80s it’d be nice to hear something different now. Everything’s so homogenised – like, people think that to make an impact they have to represent a certain sound a certain way, and having to listen to these tracks now I’m longing to hear something really different.
The Horrors – ‘Who Can Say?’
What have I got to say about this? Again, I get the feeling I could listen to bands that do the very same thing, but do it better. Then again it did engage me, and I really like the instrumental hook thing – I don’t know what’s making that sound, but I like it – and I like how it goes all Spector-ish in the middle. I’m not a massive fan of the vocal, but it’s okay. I don’t know what it is… I think it’s hard with songs, because you want to believe them and get into the vocal, but while there’s a mood to the music here – swirling and atmospheric – it just feels that the ‘song’ content doesn’t live up to that.
God Help The Girl – ‘Come Monday Night’
I like that one – it’s pretty cute, and it’s great to hear something that’s not trying to be cool, you know? It feels genuine, and there’s something refreshingly unfussy about it.
Magic Magic – ‘Sleepy Lion’
This is alright. In a similar way to M83, you can hear what they love and their influences, but it doesn’t sound derivative – it’s just what’s inspired them, and again it has a real warmth to it.
The Prodigy – ‘Warrior’s Dance’
Classic, that’s absolutely classic… I enjoyed that. It’s really bizarre, because it’s so from another era, and there’s something about that I do like – it’s so unashamedly the past. It’s unreal… But basically, in all honesty, all of the stuff we’ve listened to, I don’t feel I’ll be compelled to buy any of it. I’ll keep an ear out for a few of the bands, like Passion Pit.
Eminem – ‘3am’
I think Eminem is a brilliant rapper, but this isn’t his finest hour at all. I like the drum beat, but if you’re gonna go there, then really go there – the production’s a little dated.
Find The Invisible on MySpace HERE.
